


The Same View

by Estrea



Category: Hello! Project, Morning Musume.
Genre: Fluff, Friendship, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-12
Updated: 2013-05-12
Packaged: 2017-12-11 15:45:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,433
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/800403
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Estrea/pseuds/Estrea
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Looking out of the same window, do we see the same scenery? Trying to understand each other might be the hardest part.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Same View

 

"Sayashi-san."

 

Sayashi Riho turned away from the glass windows in response to her name. They were in rehearsals for Yaon that day, and she was frankly lathered in sweat after their instructor put them through their paces. The ace wiped her face with a towel as she faced the person who called her.

 

"Duu? Is there something I can do for you?

 

Riho eyed her junior, who had by now far outstripped her in height. It was a tad annoying in a way, but it did her no good to pout over it. It wasn't like she was going to get any taller that way...

 

Not that she wouldn't keep trying to, though. She just wasn't going to talk about it. Yup.

 

Kudo Haruka was sweating buckets just like her, but where Riho's long hair was plastered against her face and neck (how annoying!), Haruka's short hair was spiky and dripping at the ends, as if she just had a bucket of water tipped over her head. The 13 year old was holding out a bottle of Mitsuya cider to her.

 

"Here. I thought you'd like some, Sayashi-san."

 

Riho hesitated. She had been trying to cut down on the soda ever since her manager yelled at her to watch her weight more carefully. 3kg in such a short time...how fearsome...but Mitsuya cider...

 

The conflict must have shown on her face, and Haruka also hesitated, as if concerned that she had done something wrong. A weird atmosphere rolled in, and it suddenly felt oddly awkward.

 

"Um...thank you!" Riho said a bit loudly, quickly grabbing the bottle before Duu could withdraw her hand. She felt bad for making things feel odd. It was just  _one_  bottle. She just wouldn't have any more that day. Yes. One wouldn't hurt. After all they just had rehearsals...she had burned a lot of calories. It should be fine right?

 

Haruka looked a tad more relieved after Riho broke the stalemate, and the 10th gen girl brought her own bottle of Mitsuya cider before her and twisted it open. The bottle cap released with a hiss, bubbles frothing at the neck. Riho giggled as she did the same. The two looked at each other, then chimed together:

 

"Shuwa shuwa pon~"

 

They clinked bottles. Riho took a swig, and then sighed in contentment. Nothing beat a cold cider after rehearsals!

 

Opposite her, Haruka was chugging away at the 500ml bottle without taking a breath, and to Riho's amazement, the self proclaimed shounen of the group finished it all in one go, ending with a satisfied "fuwaaahhhh!" as the bottle left her lips.

 

"You must be really thirsty." Riho commented, her eyes running up and down her junior's figure with a certain envy. It must be nice to have a growth spurt like that, and the fact that Duu never seemed to put on weight...Riho kind of wished she had her legs.

 

"Ehehehe...maaa, I sweated a lot!" Haruka grinned, her fangs showing prominently. The taller 13 year old shook her head, beads of sweat flying about as she did so. "Ahhh, I need a shower!"

 

"So do I..." Riho mourned, picking up her hair that had stuck to her face. Most of it had been gathered into her usual side ponytail, but the tail of it was sticking to her neck, and her fringe looked like it had been glued to her forehead. Fortunately she had gotten her fringe trimmed the other day, otherwise she would have been blinded by her own hair.

 

"Ah...I want to cut it..." Riho mumbled as she swept her hair off her neck.

 

"You can't do that, Sayashi-san." Haruka blurted out suddenly. Riho blinked.

 

"Why not?" Then she remembered what the younger girl said the other time. "Ah, Duu would cut her hair even shorter if I did...that would be bad, your hair is short enough as it is!"

 

"Nn...long hair suits you better, Sayashi-san." Haruka mumbled. Riho chuckled softly.

  
"Thank you...it's really inconvenient though...it sticks all over the place when I sweat. It's so much easier with short hair like yours, Duu."

 

"Meh, the sweat drips all over the place like this. I feel like a tap." Haruka grumbled, running one hand through her hair with a grimace. Riho laughed at that, turning back to look out of the window into an already darkening sky.

 

"What are you looking at? You've been here since rehearsals ended." Haruka asked, joining her senior by the window. Everyone else was talking and playing around and generally making a lot of noise. Riho had been standing on her own, lost in thought until Haruka had approached her with cider. It was unusual, but not unwelcome, and Riho appreciated the gesture as much as she was mildly surprised by it. She would have thought that Duu would be spending more time with her gen-mates or sticking close by Tanaka-san. After all, it wasn't all that long before Tanaka-san would be graduating, and everyone knew Duu adored their cat-like senior.

 

"Just thinking how near yet so far we are from the people around us." Riho gestured with her bottle, vaguely, towards the blinking lights of the city below them. Blinking neon ads and the fierce halogens of packed traffic competed for dominance in the dying twilight, whilst smudged shadows of people-figures crabbed ant-like across the barely visible landscape, so many stories up.

 

"I don't understand." Haruka said frankly. Riho smiled, a little gloom creeping into her eyes, or was that the light? Haruka could not be sure.

 

"I want everyone out there to know of us. To look up and be able to see us. To recognize us. I want Morning Musume to be great again, Duu. We have so much to do to live up to our seniors." 

 

Haruka stared wordlessly at the smaller Riho, who was looking out fiercely at the creeping night, chin lifted in defiance at the task ahead of her. It was at times like this that she felt like, here was the ace of Morning Musume. This was the Sayashi Riho that stood proudly at their head, determined to reclaim glory for the group. It was like a completely different version of the Riho who, when left with her 9th generation mates, laughed and played like the 14 year old girl she was. 

 

Haruka remembered when she first joined almost 2 years ago. Her first impression of Riho had been...unremarkable. Then again, all she saw was the Riho who was with her favourite Kanon-chan, and they had been silly and giggly and nothing at all like the admirable Tanaka-san who always had this palpable aura around her that befitted that of a star. It was only after joining and watching the Sayashi who was a completely different creature the moment it came to work that she slowly came to respect her as a senior and someone to learn from.

 

2 years on, they had all gelled together as a group. Generation bonds meant that 10th gen tended to stay within themselves (though they sort of adopted Sakura thanks to Maachan), and 9th gen lounged about in pairs or trios or as a full set when work put them together. Yet, Haruka noticed this.

 

Sayashi Riho always stood apart. By choice or by incident, the girl hovered on the fringe of things, joining in occasionally and staying out just as often. Always watching, always observing. The girl relaxed only around her Kanon-chan, but otherwise she simply sat on the sidelines and bided her time. Time and again when Haruka attempted to make conversation, they would talk seriously about work, but the younger girl always felt a sense of helplessness the moment Riho got introspective. She simply couldn't follow where the older girl went when that happened. It was frustrating to be left behind. More than frustrating, it was almost painful to know that she wasn't at that level.

 

"Too bad we can't see the stars overhead in Tokyo. It would be pretty, wouldn't it?" Riho mused aloud as she looked up. Then she turned to Duu and beamed widely. 

 

"Maybe  _we_  can be the stars that people look up to in this city. Wouldn't it be great, Duu?"

 

Haruka returned the smile with a grin of her own, ignoring the sudden flutter she felt in that moment. It was so easy to be caught in a moment, and when they both gazed out of the window once more, Haruka felt like she could almost see the same scenery as Riho did.

 

And it was beautiful.


End file.
